NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The school district is proposing a $19 million spending plan for fiscal 2023, up 5.24 percent from this year.

 

The School Committee's Finance & Facilities subcommittee reviewed the draft budget on Monday; up in the air is the use of school choice funds to offset the increase, the final figure for a busing contract and whether more music instruction in the elementary schools can be added in. 

 

School officials say the target is $17,769,075, making it level with this year's budget.

 

The draft budget is $18,699,919, up $930,844. Some $14,922,779 is budgeted for salaries and $3,777,140 for operations. Chapter 70 aid from the governor's proposed budget is $14,919,518, an increase of more than $1 million over this year, and another $954,753 in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund monies is being used for certain salaries and supports not in the budget. 

 

For instance, two new clerical support staff in special education were added because certain paraprofessionals could be funded through ESSER. 

 

Mayor Jennifer Macksey, chairman of the School Committee, wanted to be assured "that we have enough supports in the classroom. Again, the balance that's my big concern."

 

Nancy Rauscher, director of school finance and operations, said the spending plan showed that any additions were being offset by moving educational support staff to ESSER funding. Macksey asked what will happen once the ESSER funds run out. 

 

"One of the things that we will be monitoring very closely as we go into FY23, and FY24, as we prepare for ESSER III to roll off, we'll be looking at facilities,  grade span distribution across the district and enrollments," said Superintendent Barbara Malkas. "One of the things that may happen is we may in fact find that we are contracting, based on projected enrollments and other considerations, and therefore may find ourselves in a situation where, as time goes by, some of these positions either will be vacated or not filled."

 

Other salaries covered by ESSER are the floating nurse, COVID-19 coordinator and the community outreach director. 

 

Committee member Tara Jacobs raised concerns over the lack of instrument lessons in the elementary schools and instead giving a full-time employee a stipend for band. 

 

"I'd like to see real support for how an existing music teacher is serving our district in the same way that it was before with an additional stipend," she said. "How is this getting the same amount of rigor and time that prior to COVID it was getting?"

 

Instrumental instruction was not allowed last year because of the pandemic. Malkas said the principals had worked with the full-time music teachers in each school to build opportunities in their calendars for instrumental music instruction during and after the school day. 

 

"This stipend is based on the numbers of students who have an interest and participate in instrumental music," she said. "They inherently have had and have consistently, even before COVID, had a lower level of direct participation in instrumental music."

 

The schools do partner with Kids 4 Harmony, an after-school program provided by Berkshire Children & Families. 

 

Jacobs noted that she had objected to the past decision about rolling back access to music and the arts and that the committee had agreed to restore it once the pandemic allowed. Stipended positions were a "degradation of the program," she said.

 

"I hear what you're saying about the other after-school programs, they're not apples to apples, they're not inclusive programs. They are exclusive programs," she said. "There's something to be said for the emotional wellness aspect of these programs as well as the impact they have on achievements for students."

 

Committee member Emily Daunais said she understood how it could be grouped in social emotional learning, but thought improving music instruction in the whole district was part of a larger conversation. 

 

She said her children had not encountered any options to participate in instrumental instruction although they might be too young. 

 

"There might be a lot of interested families who don't even know about it, especially with younger kids," she added. 

 

Macksey asked how adding more instruction would affect the budget. Malkas offered two possible options — a 1.0 full-time equivalent or a 1.5 FTE split between the three schools. Rauscher estimated it would mean a 5.6 percent increase to the budget instead of 5.24 percent. 

 

The committee agreed that they wanted to return to the conversation once the administration could provide firmer figures and information. 

 

Rauscher said they are looking at all contracts and services to see where they can find savings. 

 

"Most of those are up this year for renewal, so I'm meeting with our vendor over the next week or so to look at that as part of an effort to tighten our belts," she said. "Even though the lease itself may go up, we're really looking for ways to try to limit things like our paper, our ink, toner, anything we can do to become a little more efficient and take advantage of some of the enhanced infrastructure that we've put in place over the last few years."

 

Rauscher said the hope is to see a reduction or leveling off in some of the older infrastructure. 

 

The major contract is with the bus company, Dufour Tours, which again was the only bidder to a request for proposals. The bid is nearly 10 percent increase, up to $1,000,620, over this year's $913,107. 

 

The contract will include 17 buses (depending on routes and enrollment) and includes up to 12,000 miles that covers athletics and the late bus from Drury High. 

 

Rauscher said the calculation is based on certain number of miles per bus, which is currently $298 but is increasing to $327. The 10 percent jump is higher than expected, but "it is intended to account for any dramatic increase in fuel nd then we'll have an opportunity to renegotiate in year two (of the three-year contract)."

 

ESSER is also being used to cover $55,000 for heating, ventilation and air conditioning, $24,868 for a computer technician and $80,000 for a new phone system. 

 

Rauscher said Moty Nevo, director of technology, had been very involved in the upgrade for the phone system and will monitoring capacity to see if the service commitment can be dialed back. 

 

"It's such a substantial upgrade and it impacts the way not only the district offices but how the schools themselves operate," she said. "This phone system is incredible. And it will allow teachers and school personnel to interface with families as needed, either remotely or from the office or from their cell phone."

 

Berkshire Gas and West Oil are being level funded with the possibility that the district may request to dip into school choice funds if the current fuel prices remain high. 

 

"We just left it at the dollar amount we've been budgeting at the last several years. If we increased everything by 20 percent, for instance, it just felt like we just didn't know enough to know whether or not that's going to be realistic," Rauscher said. Malkas added that had also been the recommendation of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents.

 

Other increases include a placeholder line of $254,456 for custodial care (this is for students who may need specialized care offsite), up from $202,000 last year, and $5,600 to cover all fees associated with Advanced Placement exams. The district had been covering up to 60 percent of the fee but it was considered that any cost for students could still be a deterrent.

 

The district has $4.252 million in ESSER funds for use over the next three years. Of that, 42 percent has been earmarked for salaries, said Assistant Superintendent Kimberly Roberts-Morandi, and about $141,000 for "a significant amount of professional development" that will increase the school's capacity. 

 

The funding is also being used for contractual services, specialists, justice social emotional learning, investment in supplies and materials to mitigate learning loss, intervention programs, tutorial services and technology.

 

Officials said the use of the federal funds requires a high degree of accountability and approval through the state. 

 

"I know people are hearing we've gotten a large increase of federal stimulus aid," Malkas said. "It is over three years and it does have a high degree of scrutiny and accountability as to what is an allowable expense ... It's not just gift money. We really do have to think about how we are using those as a cost offset in the budget."